Downtown Oakland offered the world a new vision of gay pride on Sunday, and it's heavy on strollers, bounce houses and pony rides.

The first Oakland Gay Pride Parade - rolling up Broadway on a warm and sunny morning - included plenty of children, on tricycles, in wagons and on the shoulders of parents, both gay and straight.

It was exactly what organizers wanted. The parade and the daylong festival that followed were designed to be kid-friendly, at a time when gay families are gaining greater acceptance.

"As attitudes change, our families are more out, more visible," said Judy Appel, executive director of the Our Family Coalition, which organized a play area at the festival, complete with petting zoo. Children lined up to pet ducks or goats, or ride a brown pony with a rainbow painted on its haunch.

The event's relatively small size helped. The parade, led by a contingent of Tykes on Trikes, lasted all of seven blocks - not too long for young attention spans. Many of the parents attending had taken their children to San Francisco's huge Pride Parade in the past, only to be overwhelmed by the noise, packed sidewalks and tricky logistics of getting in and out of the city.

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"It shouldn't take three hours for a parade, people," Leilani D'Ottavio-Lopes said as her wife, Nichole, tended to their 18-month-old son, Kailani. "This is very manageable. It's a good amount of people. He was actually able to run around in the crowd."

Children were hardly the event's sole focus. Drag queens resplendent in flowing fabric wandered through the crowds, which mixed leather vests and the occasional platform shoe with A's caps and Oaklandish tees. For many, the idea of establishing an annual East Bay parade for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community was its own reason to celebrate.

"This is what we need more of: more togetherness," said Banji Delancy of Martinez, who marched in the parade with her wife, Angie, and their year-old daughter, Asante. An hour later, Asante was crashed out in the stroller - awake, but not by much.

"I would have liked to have seen the parade (be) a little longer, but it's going to take time to build," Banji Delancy said. "That's OK. It's going to grow."

The event was big enough to attract a small army of politicians, from Oakland Mayor Jean Quan to members of the BART board. And its appeal extended well beyond the LGBTQ community.

"We want to expose our kids to the rich diversity of culture in the Bay Area - we think that's really important," Dakin Ferris of Rockridge said as he dangled his giggling 2-year-old daughter, Mailani, by her ankles. Ferris and his wife, Kayono, brought Mailani and her twin brother, Kaisei, to see the parade, and the kids seemed to be soaking it in.

"The costumes are fun for them," Dakin Ferris said. "But it's also the excitement. I think they feel the spirit."

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